11.24.2008

one, two, three.. drop dead!

i just gotta blog this one.

i saw kuya bodjie at the mrt!! hehehe. i was this close *makes that thumb and forefinger action thingy, with matching squint at the left eye for exaggeration*, this close to dropping dead at his feet, convulsing with unexplained happiness at seeing my childhood hero just a few feet away from me. hehehe. those who grew up in the 80s watching batibot just might share my elation, witnessing something close to a phenomenon, that of seeing kuya bodjie sit (lucky he was able to, hehehe) amidst the everyday mess that is the mrt ride. really it just seemed yesterday, watching kuya bodjie tell a story, contorting his voice to be "in character", and delighting at how creative and imaginative he was with the drawings and sketches he did to complement the story he was telling; and the "batang batibot" just clapped like eating his next burger is dependent on it.. of course, with "batang batibot" i mean me, glued to the tv singing "bangkang papel" or "kapit bahay nyo", some 20 years ago, hehehe.

ah, time flies really quickly. now, the batang batibot is a tired employee caught in the daily grind of his life, riding the mrt and anxious to go home to start a half-remembered yoga routine, half remembered because nowadays blogging took up most of his "awake" moments. hehehe. and then this happened. feels like i'm like a kid again. the moment i saw him until i alighted at my train stop, i felt giddy--like a kid learning to ride his first bike; i've never been so starstruck like this. having worked in a media organization before, it has been a common thing for me, seeing tv personalities on a daily basis; passing mr famous singer smoking in the corridor before he goes on air, you catch a strange whiff and you get to decide that his fart smells exactly like yours...so what's the big deal with kuya bodjie? the kuya bodjie experience is different because he comes from a time in my life that is removed from all these worldly gentleness you are now reading. i mean, it was a time when gentle was really gentle, ya know. hehehe. so there.

watching him sitting and fiddling with his celfone, i observe that he's gone considerably old and tired-looking--not like the very animated, youngish kuya bodjie lost in the telling of his tale, we knew from way back. now thinking it over, maybe that was the character and this was the real kuya bodjie pascua--serious and haggard, just like everyone else; silly of me to believe everything the headwriter wrote. then again, it just entered my mind, writing this, that maybe its not kuya bodjie but just someone who happened to look like kuya bodjie. hehehe. no wonder no one in the mrt car was making a big fuss out of it, staring and oggling at the poor man like i did.

ah, i'm just tired, ya know. this is what a tired gentle mind is bound to make up, sooner or later. :)

14 comments:

i LOVE kuya bojie! he is the only person i look forward to seeing when watching batibot waaaaaay back (when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, as it seems). his story-telling segments were the highlight of my mornings. i still remember how off i felt whenever they didn't have kuya bojie during the show.

i got to see him again many years later while watching a play at the CCP. he played padre damaso. he can play the most nefarious character known to man, but in my head, he still will be the multi-talented storyteller of my younger days. he will still always make me smile :)

yeh he's just like any other man.. pero sa TV kasi ibang iba ang character nya.. high upbeat and very optimistic.

at sa kanya ako natutong magkwento sa mga sibs ko ng kung anu-ano.. namana ko ata imagination nya when it comes to storytelling. I can still remember "Planeta Nguyam-yam".. if you ever heard of this story of his way back..

back[seat]story

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my name is gentle

i am a hopeless romantic. i am a sucker for the written word. i like shakespeare, as much as madonna or xtina. i curse, weep and howl. but i also smile the sweetest of smiles and bellow ear-shattering laughters. i am a connoisseur of visual and aural feasts--of all things ethereal and sublime ; ghastly and profane. i am a son. a brother. a loyal friend. a doting uncle. i am a librarian who enjoys pigging-out on his fave food in silence. i am butter melting deliciously on your tongue. a camera-whore who flirts with the lens on like, a regular basis. i am yoga-smitten. i live in the present, and jazz is my religion; but i am a schemer just the same--i plan, i execute...i dare to live in waking dreams. i am tragedy and success. i am beauty and ugliness. shadow and light. agony and ecstasy. cold as ice, hot as fire. take a deep breath... i am gentle. pleased to meet you!